Killen Founders Day

I was reminded recently that about 6 years ago on the way to my friends wedding, I made fun of a the sign for the city of Killen. Well, the Lord has quite a since of humor because I now live here...
This past weekend was the annual Killen Founders Days. We went to a parade on Friday evening and then ventured out to the park for the food, music, and booths. As you can see by the pictures, we did a little bit of everything! Hannah sat pretty well waiting for the parade to begin, but then it was each man for himself when they started throwing candy. She squeeled, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" It was so funny. She loved the fire trucks and all the kids coming by...it was our first parade! Once we got to the park, Hannah needed (well that's what she kept saying anyway) a shaved ice and Chris had to have a funnel cake--ok, I wanted it too! It was delicious. Kind of a mini county fair type set up. We had a lot of fun. Then on Saturday evening, we went back to see what else they had going on. Here's when the real fun came! My baby looked so big...well she looked so small with all those other kids, but she acted so big climbing on the inflatable slides and riding the swings. She had such a good time. Then as we were leaving, she found this Dora blow up doll...yep we brought it home!
I gotta go...hope you enjoyed the pictures.

All sorts of stuff

It's time for a new post. I'm having trouble deciding what all to say though. I want to tell you about my ladies Bible study, canning, sewing, and of course Hannah. That's a lot to type about. So here goes.

I just finished leading a 6 week small group ladies Bible study. We did, "Birds In My Mustard Tree" and it was exactly what I needed! Funny how the Lord does that for us. I have always enjoyed attending small groups like this, but haven't always felt "comfortable" leading them. However, the Lord puts us in these roles to grow us and that's exactly what He's done here. On Monday evenings, 10-12 ladies from our church came over for a couple hours to eat, pray, and discuss each chapter. There were times of tears, laughter, and real God-honoring discussion. I'm so thankful for this study, and how it challenged me to see how God was working in my own walk of faith. We were able to see that His disciples...those closest to him...sometimes had to ask Him to increase their faith. We are going to start a new one in September, "Verses We Know By Heart" for those ladies who couldn't come to the evening studies.

Okay, so canning...yes it seems to be a "lost art" for young ladies my age. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much. Guess it's the Suzie Homemaker in me and the feeling of accomplishment. I have been growing a little garden in the corner of our backyard. It has cucumbers, peppers, okra, and tomatoes. We have a freezer full of okra, jars of dill pickles and all sorts of tomatoes in the pantry, along with a gallon of pickles sitting for 6 weeks so that I can can them. I am still so amazed at how God supplies our every need...even if it's through simple veggies that are given to us by our church family or grown in our own yard. I'm thankful for His provisions!

I've also done a little sewing this week. I don't want to ruin the surprise factor of a gift for my friend Carson, but I made this little dress out of a pillowcase. Her 4th birthday is tomorrow! It was super easy to follow the pattern that I downloaded from the internet. The pillowcase was on clearance at Wal-mart, and was a 2 pack so I'll have it to make another for someone else!


Oh and Miss Hannah...she's busy, busy, busy! We've cooked cupcakes in her play kitchen to share with the baby dolls, played in the little pool fully dressed, walked the neighborhood to meet our neighbors, and made friends with a sweet widow lady across the street. She has a love for dancing these days and wants everybody to join in. Dora is taking a backseat to a new favorite "Word World" on tv and she wants to visit the library often.

We're going out of town this afternoon for an association meeting, so I should be packing. We'll be able to stay with our good friends Chad and Jenny Donoho tonight before spending the day tomorrow at the meeting. They have two sweet children, so I'm looking forward to the playdate for Hannah. I guess that's all for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Could you do us a favor?

To those of you who might keep up with my simple blog, I have a request. Our school participates in "BoxTops for Education" and "Campbell's Lables for Education". If you don't currently send your lables and/or boxtops to a school, would you consider sending them to me? We could use all the extras we can get at FCA this year. It's no secret that every school needs it's share of funds, and ours is no different. These two companies provide financial "rewards" for each lable that is submitted. Just tear off the soup can lables, goldfish barcodes, box tops, etc. and gather them up and mail them to my home.

Chris is the Administrator here at Florence Christian Academy School and Daycare, as well as pastor at our church. He's doing a spectacular job of getting some necessary things done for our teachers and students. We are down significantly in student enrollement this year, so please be much in prayer that the Lord would send us the much needed students to fill our classrooms. We are in great need financially too, so our second request is that the Lord will provide the needed funds to function this year. Chris is carrying a great deal of weight on his shoulders these days, but our God is faithful and will supply him the much needed wisdom and grace to go forward every day. Thanks for your support!

A quick post

Where do the days go? I can't believe it's been months since I've last posted. I wish I could tell you all the ways God has moved in my own life since April. There've been seasons of pure joy and days of deep loneliness and sadness. I am reminded of Paul in the Bible how he endured such hard times, yet was able to count them as joy for the cause of Christ. Not that I've been imprisoned ever or physically harmed in any way, I now know that God sometimes uproots us from our comforts in order to further the Gospel and give Him the glory.

We are settled in to our lovely home here in Killen, AL. I love it! It's very spacious and open- in a great neighborhood just far enough away to put off some things until more things need to be done "in town". A huge thank you to my parents who bought Hannah a swingset! It's been lots of fun so far and proves to be an adventure every time we go outside. She's getting so big...so fast!


We also just took our first big trip since moving here. We went to OH to the NAFWB Convention and had a great time seeing all of you! Old college buddies, SC family, and our "Cornerstone" crew you just don't know the encouragement you were to us. Hannah faired quite well in my opinion. She was up to all hours of the night every night, spent most days being pushed and shushed in her stroller so I could go to competitions, and spent a total of 7 days away from what is normal to her. I guess another thanks should go to my mom here for introducing us to "Dum, Dums". One stranger even stopped me before Wed. service and said, "Everytime I see your little girl, she has a sucker in her mouth." I just smiled and said, "Yes ma'am, it keeps her quiet and happy...that's about the only way I'm gonna get to do anything here." She just laughed and walked off. We're down to only a couple a day now, but we're doing a good job brushing too!!!



Well, I don't really know what else to say. I've got a few minutes to rest before she gets up from a nap, so I'm gonna go. One last picture...

Whew! It's been a crazy time since I posted last. We've been pelted by severe storms, visited with family, gone on a field trip, played at a new park...the list is going and going. I've come to appreciate the phrase, "Seek shelter immediately"-- this has been tornado city in the last couple of weeks. Everyone here asks how we're handling it, I laugh and reply it's taking some getting used to. Thankfully, the house we rent has a basement and the school is just a quick trip up the street if the weather should get too crazy. I've visited both refuges in the last two weeks. I've forgotten the crazy rush you get in the midst of a tornado. I was at Target with my sister this last time when Chris called and asked where I was. He then said, "where's Hannah-the sirens are going off...you need to get somewhere and stay there." Well, she was at the hotel with my mom. So the mother bear raised up inside me and said to Ashley--come on, we've got to get to the hotel...fast. We got there while the storm continued to be all over Lauderdale County, we got inside and saw them playing in the hallway. I kept up my panic mode for a few more minutes and got us to the school where Chris was. Within just a few minutes hail was everywhere, sirens screaming, another family who attends the school came so they could seek shelter in the basement too. It took a little while, but a gentle calm came and we made our way to Olive Garden under sunny skies.

Easter Sunday went well too. There were no major changes to the morning's service. The choir sang a couple extra songs and Chris did a dramatic reading between them. The official count for the morning was 177! That's about 40 more than we've been having each week, so maybe we'll pick up some families from that CEO crowd...you know who they are. Then that evening, (we had evening service) the youth group did a black light mime to, "My Redeemer Lives". It was wonderful! Peace--I know some of you wanted to do this...you so could! It was great, very powerful and moving!!! Overall, it was a great day in the Lord! Things are really going well here. We're still learning names, but loving our people!

Hannah and I went on the K4-2nd grade field trip to The Alabama Hall of Fame last week. It was quite a trip. Many neat things inside. She participated in the egg hunt filling her basket to the top! And today, we played at Spring Park in Tuscumbia, AL with our friends Nicole and Aiden Hackett. Chris and I went to FWBBC with Nicole and Shiloh. She's on spring break this week, so we met so the babies could play. It was so nice to be with someone I know...a very close friend at one time! Hannah is 2 months older than Aiden, so that was fun too! She also invited some people from their church in Muscle Shoals, so it was a good little group before lunch. I have some pics...they are in the camera...in the car, so I'll add them later.

I hope this little update was as fun to read as it was to remember! Enjoy the weekend! I'll post again next week...hopefully!

Settling In

My "cween-up" princess


Our sweet Carolina girl!

Well we've been here for almost two weeks, and the majority of things are where they are going to be for now. There's definitely more in the basement than there is in the "house". Last night our Realtor here called and said that our offer was accepted on a house in Killen, AL--about 10 miles from here, so we'll start packing it all up again! Right now it looks like we'll try to move in around May 8th.

Things are going pretty smooth for the most part. Chris is doing a great job at the church. The students have been on spring break this week, so he's had a lot of time to be out visiting church members and the sick. Our first Sunday went well too. Several of you have asked about that-- he seemed so calm and it was very natural for him to be up there. The congregation seems very excited about us being here. They were very gracious in the moving process-cleaning the house before we moved in, unloading the moving truck, providing meals the whole first week.

Hannah is doing good adjusting to things. The biggest challenges have been a new room(all hardwood and echoy and very slippery), allergies, and no friends...(I'm struggling with these too!)We've tried to keep the same sort of schedule like going to the grocery store on a certain day, story time at the library, playing at the park...visiting the pediatrician--yes, we've already been--but it was for 18 mo. well visit and immunizations. I have to say those things are all so normal but very hard for me to do here...not knowing anyone. I'm trusting that God will bring me to a new group of friends and playmates for my sweet baby. She's all the time asking for Nonah(Jonah), I-wi (Eli), Carkeen (Carson), Emma...even Charwee (The Hull's puppy) has been called out. She walks around calling names, "wherawyou--anywhere"(I can't find you anywhere...that's what I always say when playing with her)--those are common phrases right now. I always try to say what they are probably doing at their house, but we're going to make new friends here too. She's even asked for Weswee and Missme--Leslie and Missy...so she definitely knows what's going on and that we're not with them any more. We've spent a lot of time outside in yard picking the fwowers and waving hi to the birds.

We're very excited about the coming week! School will be back in session so Chris will have a new set of responsibilities to grasp. Then, my mom and Ashley are coming to visit Friday for Easter weekend! It'll be great to have them here.

Well, I should go. Hope everyone out there has a wonderful weekend! I'll try to keep you posted and add some pictures along the way. Thanks again to our family at Peace for the many gifts and encouraging cards! We love you and miss you very much!